I'd like to sync my contacts from the Mac addressbook to an Android phone, but I'd rather not use Google (or any cloud) where I have no control over my data.

So far I found SyncMate and Missing Sync. Both cost $40 and promise to do sync more data that I will ever get on my Android phone.

SyncMate offers a free edition that can sync the contacts to the phone, but it's slow (more than 3 minutes to sync 250 contacts), has no progress bar and won't update the contacts on the Mac if I added a number on the phone (and I have set the sync to bidirectional!).

The Missing Sync doesn't seem to offer a free or trial edition, so can't tell how well it works.

Has anybody compared contact syncing with these two products? And are there other options?

I have used Missing Sync for both Palm OS and BlackBerry over the years... Frankly, as a company they are horrible. In my experience, the software works well for a few months, and then suddenly you have duplicates everywhere. Missing Sync support is not very supportive, and have never been able to get me sorted out.
– TheWellingtonOct 18 '11 at 20:58

5

That said, I have had not even a single problem in over two years by using Google as my sync conduit between my Mac and my Android phone. I get that you don't want your stuffs in the cloud, but really it does work well.
– TheWellingtonOct 18 '11 at 20:59

@TheWellington - I've never heard anything but good things from that company. In the one experience I had with them, with a half-working BB, I had to "return" the software, and they allowed me to do it without any questions asked. I think technically I could've continued using the software anyway, but they still refunded my money and took it on good faith. I was happy with them.
– HarvNov 18 '11 at 4:41

I'd have to agree that storing your contacts with Google is certainly the simplest solution... has worked perfectly for syncing my Mac and my HTC for a couple of years. If you're concerned about Google screwing up your data, you can always take local backups of your address book on both your phone and your Mac as often as you like... hopefully your Mac, at least, is on a regular backup schedule via Time Machine or something anyway.
– calum_bNov 18 '11 at 12:11

@Harv Glad they are treating you right... I have long since given up on them. I suppose everybody changes though.
– TheWellingtonNov 29 '11 at 16:53

3 Answers
3

On my NAS appliance, I installed OwnCloud, which supports contact synchronisation with the CardDAV protocol. OS X support CardDAV out of the box.

On the Android device I installed CardDAV-Sync and Contact Editor Pro (see the OwnCloud doc). Both together cost about $5, but there are free versions that also work well with fewer features. Still much less than $40 for Missinc Sync or SyncMate.

Thus I get the advantages of a cloud solution (immediate updates, two-way sync) and get to keep my contacts private.

I'd like a two-way solution that propagates any edits on the handset back to the Mac. With vcards I'd have to remember what I changed and export/import also in the opposite direction. Way too much cumbersome IMHO.
– pescheOct 17 '11 at 18:14